In many ways, to the eyes of the world’s airlines, 2016 looked a lot like 2015, which was a radical break from pre-2014 conditions. Again this year, the industry operated with a backdrop of low fuel prices, strong traffic growth, a strong U.S. dollar and more favorable economic circumstances for countries less dependent on commodity exports. And best of all, according to IATA forecasts—not to mention three quarters of hard financial data—2016 will be another strongly profitable year for the industry as a whole, led by U.S. carriers but true also of carriers in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. That said,…
